The website of writer and poet Daniel Bennett
'The city could not rest. It was destined to move forever, because if it halted it would start the long slow movement down here -- down past-- where it would come, eventually, to the zone where the mountains became ridges a few inches high, where an irresistible pressure would sweep it to its destruction... He … Continue reading Microcosm Of The City
Very pleased to have a new story 'Captured Dreams of the Dead Machine' in the September issue of Interzone. The story follows a dealer in bootleg information and his encounters in the badlands outside his home city. 'Traffic around the freeport snarled up his journey, but Ash cut down by the skud site near the … Continue reading Interzone 288
'Most backroad towns looked like this, these days. At best a fast-food place, a feed store, maybe a run-down-looking grocery or a health clinic, and not much else. There'd be a Superwally somewhere between towns, as Silva had said, luring everyone even farther from centre or anything resembling community. Town after town, we saw the … Continue reading Backroad Towns
The artwork for my story in the forthcoming Interzone 288.
'London about me gazed at me spectrally. The windows in the white houses were like the eye sockets of skulls. About me my imagination found a thousand noiseless enemies moving. Terror seized me, a horror of my temerity. In front of me the road became pitchy black as though it was tarred, and I saw … Continue reading Dead London
'Dick’s style never improved much. Sometimes he did lose an overcomplicated plot a bit. Yet we remain fascinated by his themes. We live in a world of true facts and fake news. So maybe the “insane” actually do live in different realities.' Michael Moorcock . I have fond memories of reading Philip K Dick. I … Continue reading Ubik: Style and Making Strange
'What should I do?"Watch lots of television, particularly game shows and soaps. Go to porn movies. Ever see Nazi Love Motel? They've got it on cable, here. Really awful. Just what you need.'What was he talking about?"Quit yelling and listen to me. I'm letting you in on a trade secret: really bad media can exorcise … Continue reading Bad Media
The first book I ever featured on this blog was Walter Tevis's Mockingbird. An old friend passed on his copy to me, after we'd met up after a few years apart. At the time, I'd fallen out with fiction, and part of the reason I started this blog saw me pick through how I'd come … Continue reading The Man Who Fell To Earth
'Lee Harwood, the noted Anglo-American poet, has begun to publish compositions written in a language of his own invention. Linguists who have examined these 'neologisms' substantiate Harwood's claim that his language is not, in essence, derived from any other language, oral or written. Harwood is attempting to establish a utopian community on the outskirts of … Continue reading ‘A Suitable Culture’
''By the way,' the old man said, smiling guiltily. 'While you were in the park this morning, I took the liberty of borrowing this.' He reached inside his jacket and drew forth Vilar's collection of poems. 'Oh? What did you think of them?' Vilar asked. The patriarch frowned, fidgeted and coughed. 'Ah--''An honest opinion,' Vilar … Continue reading A Second Volume
